As a pianist, educator, and philanthropist, Lang Lang is one of the world’s most influential and committed ambassadors for the arts in the 21st century. Equally happy playing for billions of viewers at the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing or for a few hundred children in the public schools, he is a master of communicating through music.

Lang Lang performs with the world’s top orchestras, collaborating with conductors including Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, and Christoph Eschenbach. Known for thinking outside the box, Lang Lang has also performed with Metallica, Pharrell Williams, and Herbie Hancock. In 2008 he founded the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. In 2013 the Secretary General of the United Nations designated him a Messenger of Peace, focusing on global education.

Lang Lang started playing the piano at age three and gave his first public recital at five. He entered Beijing’s Central Music Conservatory at nine; four years later, he won first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. He then moved to Philadelphia to study with pianist Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music. He was 17 when his big break came: substituting for André Watts at the Gala of the Century, playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He became an overnight sensation. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in October 2000 as a Shenson Young Artist.

In 2010, Lang Lang received the Crystal Award in Davos and was chosen as one of the 250 Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. He holds honorary doctorates from the Royal College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and New York University. In December 2011 he was honored with the highest prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and also received the highest civilian honors in Germany (Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) and France (Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters). In 2016 he was invited to the Vatican to perform for Pope Francis. He has also performed for numerous other international dignitaries, including four US presidents and the leaders of many nations.

Born to German-Korean parents in 1994, Gina Alice was raised in Frankfurt. She began playing the piano at the age of four, and in 2007, at age 13, she made her German television debut on the program Klassik Kids. In 2021 she was named a Steinway Artist and released her debut album, Wonderworld, on Universal/Deutsche Grammophon. Last March, her recording of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals with Lang Lang and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was released on Universal/Deutsche Grammophon, following concerts at Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with the Opening Gala.

In addition to her work as a pianist, Gina Alice is a gifted and versatile singer. In 2021 she performed “River of Memories” for the Chinese version of Disney’s Frozen 2, and for Lang Lang’s album The Disney Book, she recorded “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio in Chinese, English, and Korean. Joint performances at the Hollywood Bowl and Radio City Music Hall followed shortly after. Her Disney special with Lang Lang is available on Disney+.

Earlier this year, Gina Alice was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In China, her reality show, Gina’s Motel, garnered an audience of more than 300 million viewers, and on social media channels such as Weibo and Douyin (Chinese TikTok), she creates content for more than seven million followers. As a model, she has appeared in editorial spreads and cover shoots for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazina, InStyle, and Figaro, and partnered with Dior, Guerlain, De Beers, and Roger Vivier.